1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side mirror control system and method for a vehicle, and more specifically, to a system and method for driving both side mirrors of a vehicle so as to complete folding operations at the same time, even though the side mirrors have different operating angles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a vehicle has side mirrors in order to enable a driver to determine road conditions or see obstacles behind the vehicle. The side mirrors are usually mounted to protrude outwardly from a driver door and a front passenger door, respectively. The driver has to frequently keep an eye on both left and right side mirrors in order to prevent accidents due to conditions to the sides and/or rear of the vehicle on a road where he or she is driving.
Each side mirror, which is mounted so as to protrude outside from the vehicle, may have a risk of being damaged due to adjacent vehicles, other persons, or the like, for example, when parking the vehicle. According to the related art, the side mirror can be folded by hand so as to be protected when the vehicle is parked and prevent hindrance of nearby pedestrians or an adjacent vehicle. Recently, an auto folding system has been applied to the side mirror. In such a system, a driver manipulates a button for auto folding mounted on an inner trim or an instrument panel to fold the side mirror automatically, which results in improved convenience.
However, the auto folding system according to the related art may fold the left and right side mirrors at the same speed, and as a result, the points of time when they are fully folded are different from each other. That is, the vehicle is designed in consideration of a viewing angle of the driver resulting from a difference between lengths from the driver to the left and right side mirrors, such that the side mirror of the driver door side has an operating angle smaller than that of the front passenger door side. Therefore, when the left and right side mirrors are folded at the same speed, they may have different folding finish points of time, although they have the same folding start point of time.
In the above-described related art, although the difference in finish times does not affect operation of both side mirrors, it may make a bad impression of vehicle quality or reliability on drivers (customers). For example, since a function such as remote control may be used, it enables operating statuses of both side mirrors to be seen from outside, and when the folding finish times of the side mirrors of a vehicle are different from each other, customers may feel as if the vehicle has quality issues, or perhaps is not operating properly. In particular, as vehicles become more luxurious, the customer may expect that a feature such as folding side mirrors would operate so as to result in both side mirrors being folded with the same completion or finish times.